Tulips, Birdhomes, and Mermaids

Last week we went to Holland, Michigan for a 24 hour getaway during Tulip Time. We saw so many tulips (in fields and parks, along the road, in downtown planters, and at almost every business and home) and some Tulip Time festivities including the dancing and street cleaning that happens before the Tulip Time parade.It was kind of cold and rainy on the parade day so we spent a lot of time going into the stores and found a few things to purchase, of course. We hadn’t taken our Spring decorations down at home so the little wooden birdhouse and nest with eggs got hung up as soon as we got home.I put all the Spring decorations away this week but it was nice to admire these for a few days.

And of course mermaids are always in season at our house. There were some booths at Windmill Island Gardens (that’s where I took the above picture of a tulip field). I couldn’t resist a redware mermaid plate by a Pennsylvania artist (unfortunately I can’t decipher the signature and had no luck with Google searches).

And lest you think a mermaid plate was not a suitable purchase in a town near an inland lake rather than the ocean, I also purchased this book:

I plan on bringing it on our Lake Michigan vacation with our grandchildren this summer.